Estonian furniture maker Tume Hall OÜ, operating under the Oot-Oot brand, plans to boost exports to at least 30 percent of turnover, investing a total of 71,400 euros to do so, of which 50,000 euros was provided by Enterprise Estonia (EAS).

"Export has been minimal until now and the aim of this project is to significantly boost export capacity," Tume Hall co-owner and CEO Marko Ala told BNS. The company plans on using the EAS grant for various activities to achieve as good of an export capacity as possible, including advertising, he said.

According to Ala, priority target markets for export are Finland, Latvia, the UK and Germany. Tume Hall is set to open its first Oot-Oot showroom abroad in the Latvian capital of Riga in the near future, but currently plans to continue operating via distributors in other countries.

Exports currently account for 10-25 percent of the company's total sales. "We hope to increase exports to at least 30 percent, if not more, in the framework of this project," explained the CEO. In his opinion, this goal is achievable, as the company previously did not have a specific export strategy and buyers had found its products primarily via blogs and social media.

An increase in volume would substantially simplify production for the company as well. "Small volumes are expensive and logistically more complex [to produce]," Ala explained.

"We definitely see growth potential on the Estonian market, as we're a relatively new company in this field," he added.

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure submitted a bill amending the Liquid Fuel Act which would require liquid fuel suppliers to add fuels produced from renewable sources, known as biofuels, to their gasoline and diesel fuel. Estonia will be the last EU member state to take on this obligation.

The two ministers in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Kadri Simson (Center) and Urve Palo (SDE), announced on Friday that they were recalling all members of the Riigikogu currently serving on state company supervisory boards.

There were a total of approimately 11,000 job vacancies in businesses, institutions and organizations in Estonia in the third quarter of 2016, which is a 7-year high following a 16-percent jump from the previous quarter and a 25-percent increase year over year.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Estonian Ministry of Finance have signed the second portion, worth 400 million euros, of a co-financing facility for Estonia aimed at supporting investments in research and innovation, sustainable transport infrastructure and the promotion of the development of the country's micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

AS Eesti Meedia, the largest media group in the Baltics, has acquired the exclusive free-to-air audovisual rights for the territory of the Republic of Estonia for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang and 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Looking into Eesti Energia’s Jordan and Utah projects, both focused on oil shale processing, the National Audit Office found that the company had explained the involved risks sufficiently before making the investment.

Estonian transmission system operator Elering has announced a public procurement tender to find a designer and constructor of the Estonian section of the planned third Estonian-Latvian power connection, the total cost of which will be 172 million euros.

Minister of Rural Affairs Martin Repinski (Center) has invited food producers with export experience to take part in a roundtable on food export that is to take place at the Ministry of Rural Affairs on Dec. 14.

Participating in Friday's Telecommunications Council in Brussels, Estonia supported changing the EU's communication legislation which would help member states to adopt 5th-generation networks more quickly.

Minister of Health and Labour Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) plans on implementing restrictions on alcohol advertising in Estonia that the previous government failed to pass in March, reported daily Eesti Päevaleht.

During the first two years of its e-residency project, which provides foreigners with the opportunity to register companies in Estonia and use other e-state services, Estonia already has 15,000 e-residents who have established more than 1,000 businesses. On the occasion of the second birthday of the program, the President of Estonia stressed the importance of the program in introducing Estonia to the world.

The Tallinn Administrative Court ruled on Thursday in favor of Estonia's privately-owned train operator Edelaraudtee, which means that the Estonian state must pay the company 2.1 million euros in damages due to premature termination of contract.

The Estonian government approved a proposal on Thursday, made by Minister of Justice Urmas Reinsalu in connection with Estonia's e-residency project, to repeal the requirement that the management board of a company registered in Estonia must be physically located in the country. The change is to take effect in January 2018.

In October 2016, the production of Estonia's industrial enterprises increased 5 percent compared to October of the previous year, as production increased in manufacturing and the energy sector but decreased in mining and quarrying.

On Nov. 29, representatives of the Tartu Division of the Estonian Free Party met with Latvian representatives of the Rail Baltic project in Riga in order to discuss the former’s desire to see the route of the international railway project changed to connect Tallinn with Riga via Tartu, not Pärnu, as currently planned. This proposed change, however, did not find support on the Latvian side.

According to Estonian state-owned company Port of Tallinn, the sea trials of the new ferry Tõll were successful, and so the vessel is expected to begin its journey toward Estonia at the end of December and enter into service under subsidiary TS Laevad in early January.

While next year’s budget allocates €4m to state-owned railway company Eesti Raudtee, what it needs is actually closer to €15m. As the European Union’s support payments are slowly shrinking, the need for state investment in Estonia’s railway infrastructure is increasing.